1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. New books *Alan Dean Foster - Splinter of the Mind's Eye *John L. Parker - Once a Runner *Kingsley Amis - Jake's Thing *Richard Bach - Illusions *Beryl Bainbridge - Young Adolf *William Peter Blatty - The Ninth Configuration *Judy Blume - Wifey *Charles Bukowski - Women *Anthony Burgess - 1985 *Taylor Caldwell - Bright Flows The River *Chantal Chawaf - Rougeâtre *John Cheever - The Stories of John Cheever *C.J. Cherryh - Well of Shiuan *Brian Cleeve - Judith *Mary Elizabeth Counselman - Half in Shadow *L. Sprague de Camp **''The Best of L. Sprague de Camp'' **''The Great Fetish'' *L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg - Conan the Swordsman *Samuel R. Delany - Empire: A Visual Novel *Don DeLillo - Running Dog *Nelson DeMille - By the Rivers of Babylon *Phyllis Eisenstein - Born to Exile *J. G. Farrell - The Singapore Grip *Howard Fast - Second Generation *Ken Follett - Eye of the Needle *Ernest J. Gaines - In My Father's House *Günter Grass - Die Flunder - (The Flounder) *Graham Greene - The Human Factor *Donald Hamilton - The Silencers *Harry Harrison - The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You *James Herbert - The Spear *William Hjortsberg - Falling Angel *John Irving - The World According to Garp *Marshall Jevons - Murder at the Margin *James Jones - Whistle *Ismail Kadare - Ura Me Tri Harqe (The Three-Arched Bridge) *M. M. Kaye - The Far Pavilions *Stephen King - The Stand *Stephen King - Night Shift (collection of short stories, including Children of the Corn) *Christopher Koch - The Year of Living Dangerously *Larry Kramer - Faggots *Judith Krantz - Scruples *Ursula K. Le Guin - The Eye of the Heron *Madeleine L'Engle - A Swiftly Tilting Planet *Robert Ludlum - The Holcroft Covenant *John D. MacDonald - The Empty Copper Sea *Ian MacClennan - Billy Bobby *David Malouf - An Imaginary Life *Richard Matheson - What Dreams May Come *Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden *James A. Michener - Chesapeake *Alice Munro - Beggar Maid *Larry Niven - The Magic Goes Away *Tim O'Brien - Going After Cacciato *Andrew J. Offutt - Conan and the Sorcerer *Robert B. Parker - The Judas Goat *Elizabeth Peters - Street of the Five Moons *William Luther Pierce - The Turner Diaries *Belva Plain - Evergreen *Mario Puzo - Fools Die *Mary Renault - The Praise Singer *Ruth Rendell - A Sleeping Life *Hubert Selby Jr. - Requiem for a Dream *Whitley Strieber - The Wolfen *Thomas Sullivan - Diapason *Rosemary Sutcliff - Song for a Dark Queen *John Updike - The Coup *Philip Van Rensselaer - That Vanderbilt Woman *Gore Vidal - Kalki *William Wharton - Birdy *Herman Wouk - War and Remembrance *Richard Yates -''A Good School'' *Frank Yerby - Hail the Conquering Hero *Roger Zelazny - The Courts of Chaos New drama *David Hare - Plenty *Ira Levin - Deathtrap *Mary O'Malley - Once a Catholic Poetry *Robert Minhinnick - A Thread in the Maze *John Tripp - Collected Poems Non-fiction *Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg - Tabu Homosexualität *Roger Caron - Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars *Lord David Cecil - A Portrait of Jane Austen *Charlotte Chandler - Hello, I Must Be Going! *Christina Crawford - Mommie Dearest *Gerald Durrell - The Garden of the Gods *John Gall - Systemantics *H. R. Haldeman - The Ends of Power *Mollie Katzen - Moosewood Cookbook *Richard Nixon - The Memoirs of Richard Nixon *David Rorvik - In his Image: The Cloning of a Man The author (Rorvik) intentionally left the word "his" uncapitalized in the title of this book. See Talk:David Rorvik Births *June 26 - Eric Shapiro, novelist *July 23 - Lauren Groff, author *''date unknown'' **David Llewellyn, screenwriter **Rachel Trezise, novelist and short story writer Deaths * January 12 - Robert Harbin, author of many books on origami * March 1 - Paul Scott, Raj Quartet author * March 24 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer * April 14 - F. R. Leavis, literary critic * May 1 - Sylvia Townsend Warner, poet and novelist * May 12 - Louis Zukofsky, modernist poet * September 15 - Edmund Crispin, crime writer * September 28 - Pope John Paul I, author of Illustrissimi under his real name of Albino Luciani * November 15 - Margaret Mead, anthropologist and author *''date unknown'' - Walter C. Alvarez, medical author Awards * Nobel Prize for Literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer * Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year is first awarded. The winner is Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. Canada * See 1978 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. France * Prix Goncourt: Patrick Modiano, Rue des boutiques obscures * Prix Médicis French: Georges Perec, La vie mode d'emploi * Prix Médicis International: Aleksandr Zinovyev, L’Avenir radieux - Russia United Kingdom * Booker Prize: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: David Rees, The Exeter Blitz * Cholmondeley Award: Christopher Hope, Leslie Norris, Peter Reading, D.M. Thomas, R.S. Thomas * Eric Gregory Award: Ciarán Carson, Peter Denman, Christopher Reid, Paul Wilkins, Martyn A. Ford, James Sutherland-Smith * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Maurice Gee, Plumb * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Robert Gittings, The Older Hardy United States * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction, Peter Taylor * Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, Dreamsnake * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Donald L. Coburn, The Gin Game * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: James Alan McPherson, Elbow Room * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Howard Nemerov, Collected Poems Elsewhere *Premio Nadal: Germán Sánchez Espeso, Narciso *Viareggio Prize: Antonio Altomonte, Dopo il presidente References External links * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year